Systems and methods for electronically distributing information

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for transmitting messages related to certain information while maintaining the confidentiality of that information. A potential recipient may register one or more devices for receipt of such messages while specifying rules regarding when different messages may be delivered to the various devices. To keep sensitive information confidential, the messages may include only a link to such sensitive information, but exclude the sensitive information itself. An authorized recipient may then use the link to access the sensitive information via a password-protected Web site.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

This patent document contains material that is subject to copyrightprotection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimilereproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosureas it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or recordsbut otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

The proliferation of ways to send messages has paradoxically made itharder to be sure that the right messages reach the right recipients atthe right times. A sender may have to choose between email, instantmessaging, and other forms of electronic communication. Sending amessage via all available channels is one possible solution, but it runsthe risk of overwhelming (or at least annoying) the recipients.

The problem is particularly complex when an urgent message involvesconfidential information. The most conveniently-accessed channels—voicemail and SMS, to give just two examples—are partially or whollyinsecure. But using proprietary technologies creates problems forrecipients, who may have to manage multiple different technologies onmultiple devices if they are to receive messages from different senders.

For example, doctors may work with service providers, such aslaboratories. A laboratory may need to send messages of varying levelsof urgency to doctors: for example, doctors may need to be alertedvariously about incomplete test orders, urgent test results, or problemswith billing for performed tests. Some of these messages may need to bedelivered immediately, yet any messaging technology must respect theconfidentiality of legally protected healthcare information. And aphysician may deal with many different laboratories and other serviceproviders, which creates the risk that closed, proprietary systems mayproliferate beyond usefulness.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for receiptand delivery of messages that may concern confidential information,e.g., confidential medical information. According to embodiments of theinvention, a computer system may receive information, possibly from athird party, that comprises a message for delivery to a specifiedrecipient. This information may include, e.g., text and, separately fromthe text, a reference to other, confidential information. The referencemay be, e.g., a hyperlink to a password-protected Web site. Theinformation may also include other information, including informationthat directly or indirectly identifies the recipient and/or informationabout the type and or importance of the confidential information.

For example, in an embodiment of the invention, a laboratory serviceprovider may provision an account for a recipient (e.g., a doctor) witha messaging service provider. The laboratory service provider maysubsequently send a message to the messaging service provider fordelivery to the recipient, and this message may include text in onefield and a hyperlink in another. The text may indicate that information(e.g., an urgent lab result) is available and whether that informationis urgent, but may not itself include any protected information. Thehyperlink may lead to a secure, password-protected Web page or pagesfrom which an authorized user may retrieve the confidential informationitself.

Further, in an embodiment of the invention, a potential recipient mayregister one or more devices with the messaging service provider.Devices may include, e.g., smartphones, tablets, and messaging clientsinstalled on one or more computer systems. The recipient may alsospecify rules and/or conditions that control delivery of certain classesof messages to certain devices. For example, a physician may specifythat alerts regarding billing problems are to be sent only to anadministrator's computer and only during business hours, but urgent testresults are to be sent to all of the physician's devices as soon as theybecome available.

According to embodiments of the invention, any one or more actionsrelated to receipt and/or delivery may be logged, collectively and/orindividually, e.g., to permit subsequent auditing. Thus, for example,receipt and delivery of a message according to an embodiment of theinvention may create, e.g., a log entry corresponding to receipt of themessage from the sender, individual log messages for each of therecipient's registered devices that indicate for each of the devicesreceipt of the message, presentation of the message to the recipient,acknowledgement by the user of the message, and accessing the associatedconfidential information, e.g., via the included hyperlink. These eventsmay be logged separately: for example, receipt of the message by thedevice may be logged separately from presentation of the message to theuser, which may in turn be logged separately from the user'sacknowledgement of the message, and so on, or, alternatively, any two ormore of these events may be logged together. Logging may be wholly orpartly centralized and/or distributed.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a method of real-timemessaging to healthcare professionals is performed by a computer systemthat comprises one or more processors and one or more interfacesoperatively coupled to at least one of the processors. The methodcomprises receiving through at least one of the interfaces at least oneof a plurality of messages that represent communication from a sender(e.g., a laboratory testing services provider) to a designated recipient(e.g., a doctor). The message may contain information formattedaccording to the sender's own identification records, without regard tothe recipient's identification records.

According to the method, at least one of the processors, in response toreceiving the message, executes instructions to process the content ofthe message. The content may include information relevant to theprofessionals, such as laboratory test processing in the healthcareindustry, including but not limited to critical and non-critical testresults, test orders, and billing information. In an embodiment, thesystem processes the information in the sender's message to identifyindividual recipient computing devices and determines which of therecipient computing devices should receive the sender's message. Thecomputer system also transmits through at least one of the interfacesinformation to cause an electronic display device to present the contentof the message to the designated recipient.

According to an embodiment, the message is comprised of at least a bodyfield, a sender field, a message type field, and a link field. The linkfield can be configured to display a link to a Web page where therecipient can view personal health information in a secure manner.

According to an embodiment, the method described above can also includeat least one of the processors generating a new message, the new messagecomprised of at least one message types. The message types include butare not limited to critical and non-critical test result messages, ordermessages, and billing messages. The new message contains the content ofthe sender's message and is transmitted to the designated recipient.

According to an embodiment, the method above includes transmittingthrough at least one of the interfaces information to cause anelectronic display device to present a user interface. The userinterface is configured to allow a designated recipient to customize thetime that messages are transmitted to the recipient. The user interfacealso allows the recipient to customize the type of messages that aretransmitted to the recipient. According to an embodiment, the recipientcan also customize the transmission of messages based on location datasent from the recipient's computing devices.

According to an embodiment, the method above includes (i) receivingthrough at least one of the interfaces an acknowledgement message fromthe recipient, and (ii) transmitting through at least one of theinterfaces the acknowledgement message to the sender.

According to an embodiment, the method above includes, (i) responsive toreceipt of the acknowledgement message, executing instructions on atleast one of the processors to process the content of theacknowledgement message to determine the recipient action that causedthe acknowledgement message, and (ii) recording the recipient action tocreate an audit trail of the communication.

In embodiments of the invention, some or all steps of some or all of theabove-described methods may be performed by or in connection with one ormore computer systems. Such a computer system, according to anembodiment of the invention, may include one or more processors, one ormore interfaces operatively coupled to at least one of the processors,one or more databases, and/or one or more computer-readable storagemedia.

Embodiments of the invention also include computer systems programmed tocarry out the above-described methods and computer-readable storagemedia encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors within a computer system, cause the computer system to carryout the above-described methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood more fully with reference tothe drawings. The drawings are provided for the purpose of illustrationand are not intended to limit the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary computer system withwhich embodiments of the invention may at least partially beimplemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary interconnected networkwith which embodiments of the invention may at least partially beimplemented.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a method of sending electronic messagesaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary diagram of a data structure representing amessage according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary diagram of senders and recipients in areceiving and transmitting communication system.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of process by which the receiving andtransmitting system records acknowledgement messages.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary user interface to allow a recipient tocustomize the transmission of messages to a client application.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary flow diagram of the process the receiving andtransmitting system uses for test order messages.

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary flow diagram of the process the receivingand transmitting system uses for laboratory test result messages.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary flow diagram of the process the receivingand transmitting system uses for billing messages.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented by systems using one ormore programmable digital computers. FIG. 1 depicts an example of onesuch computer system 100, which includes at least one processor 110,such as, e.g., an Intel or Advanced Micro Devices microprocessor,coupled to a communications channel or bus 112. The computer system 100further includes at least one input device 114 such as, e.g., akeyboard, mouse, touch pad or screen, or other selection or pointingdevice, at least one output device 116 such as, e.g., an electronicdisplay device, at least one communications interface 118, at least onedata storage device 120 such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk, andmemory 122 such as ROM and RAM, each coupled to the communicationschannel 112. The communications interface 118 may be coupled to anetwork (not depicted) such as the Internet.

Although the computer system 100 is shown in FIG. 1 to have only asingle communications channel 112, a person skilled in the relevant artswill recognize that a computer system may have multiple channels (notdepicted), including for example one or more busses, and that suchchannels may be interconnected, e.g., by one or more bridges. In such aconfiguration, components depicted in FIG. 1 as connected by a singlechannel 112 may interoperate, and may thereby be considered to becoupled to one another, despite being directly connected to differentcommunications channels.

One skilled in the art will recognize that, although the data storagedevice 120 and memory 122 are depicted as different units, the datastorage device 120 and memory 122 can be parts of the same unit orunits, and that the functions of one can be shared in whole or in partby the other, e.g., as RAM disks, virtual memory, etc. It will also beappreciated that any particular computer may have multiple components ofa given type, e.g., processors 110, input devices 114, communicationsinterfaces 118, etc.

The data storage device 120 (FIG. 1) and/or memory 122 may storeinstructions executable by one or more processors or kinds of processors110, data, or both. Some groups of instructions, possibly grouped withdata, may make up one or more programs, which may include an operatingsystem 132 such as, e.g., Microsoft Windows® 7, Linux®, Mac OS®, orUnix®. Other programs 134 may be stored instead of or in addition to theoperating system. It will be appreciated that a computer system may alsobe implemented on platforms and operating systems other than thosementioned. Any operating system 132 or other program 134, or any part ofeither, may be written using one or more programming languages such as,e.g., Java®, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic®, VB.NET®, Perl, Ruby, Python, orother programming languages, possibly using object oriented designand/or coding techniques.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the computer system 100(FIG. 1) may also include additional components and/or systems, such asnetwork connections, additional memory, additional processors, networkinterfaces, input/output busses, for example. One skilled in the artwill also recognize that the programs and data may be received by andstored in the system in alternative ways. For example, acomputer-readable storage medium (CRSM) reader 136, such as, e.g., amagnetic disk drive, magneto-optical drive, optical disk drive, or flashdrive, may be coupled to the communications channel 112 for reading froma CRSM 138 such as, e.g., a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, anoptical disk, or flash memory. Alternatively, one or more CRSM readersmay be coupled to the rest of the computer system 100, e.g., through anetwork interface (not depicted) or a communications interface 118. Inany such configuration, however, the computer system 100 may receiveprograms and/or data via the CRSM reader 136. Further, it will beappreciated that the term “memory” herein is intended to include varioustypes of suitable data storage media, whether permanent or temporary,including among other things the data storage device 120, the memory122, and the CSRM 138.

(Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the term “computer-readable storagemedium” herein specifically excludes transitory propagating signals, asshould already be clear from the word “storage”.)

Two or more computer systems 100 (FIG. 1) may communicate, e.g., in oneor more networks, via, e.g., their respective communications interfaces118 and/or network interfaces (not depicted). FIG. 2 is a block diagramdepicting an example of one such interconnected network 142. Network 142may, for example, connect one or more workstations 144 with each otherand with other computer systems, such as file servers 146 or mailservers 148. A workstation 144 may comprise a computer system 100. Theconnection may be achieved tangibly, e.g., via Ethernet® or opticalcables, or wirelessly, e.g., through use of modulated microwave signalsaccording to the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. A computer workstation144 or system 100 that participates in the network may send data toanother computer workstation system in the network via the networkconnection.

One use of a network 142 (FIG. 2) is to enable a computer system toprovide services to other computer systems, consume services provided byother computer systems, or both. For example, a file server 146 mayprovide common storage of files for one or more of the workstations 144on a network 142. A workstation 144 sends data including a request for afile to the file server 146 via the network 142 and the file server 146may respond by sending the data from the file back to the requestingworkstation 144.

Further, a computer system may simultaneously act as a workstation, aserver, and/or a client. For example, as depicted in FIG. 2, aworkstation 144 is connected to a printer 152. That workstation 144 mayallow users of other workstations on the network 142 to use the printer152, thereby acting as a print server. At the same time, however, a usermay be working at the workstation 144 on a document that is stored onthe file server 146.

The network 142 (FIG. 2) may be connected to one or more other networks,e.g., via a router 156. A router 156 may also act as a firewall,monitoring and/or restricting the flow of data to and/or from thenetwork 142 as configured to protect the network. A firewall mayalternatively be a separate device (not pictured) from the router 156.

An internet may comprise a network of networks 142 (FIG. 2). The term“the Internet” refers to the worldwide network of interconnected,packet-switched data networks that uses the Internet Protocol (IP) toroute and transfer data. For example, a client and server on differentnetworks may communicate via the Internet 158, e.g., a workstation 144may request a World Wide Web document from a Web server 160. The Webserver 160 may process the request and pass it to, e.g., an applicationserver 162. The application server 162 may then conduct furtherprocessing, which may include, for example, sending data to and/orreceiving data from one or more other data sources. Such a data sourcemay include, e.g., other servers on the same computer system 100 or LAN102, or a different computer system or LAN and/or a database managementsystem (“DBMS”) 162.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art, the terms“workstation,” “client,” and “server” are used herein to describe acomputer's function in a particular context. A workstation may, forexample, be a computer that one or more users work with directly, e.g.,through a keyboard and monitor directly coupled to the computer system.A computer system that requests a service through a network is oftenreferred to as a client, and a computer system that provides a serviceis often referred to as a server. But any particular workstation may beindistinguishable in its hardware, configuration, operating system,and/or other software from a client, server, or both.

The terms “client” and “server” may describe programs and runningprocesses instead of or in addition to their application to computersystems described above. Generally, a software client may consumeinformation and/or computational services provided by a software server.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a method of sending electronic messagesaccording to an embodiment of the invention. The messages may be, e.g.,alerts, which may be delivered over one or more viewing channels, suchas, but not limited to, desktop computing devices, tablet computingdevices, and mobile phones.

In an embodiment of the invention, the depicted method may be used totransmit messages, e.g., alerts to health care professionals. Senders orsources of alerts can be independent organizations, such as medicallaboratories or insurance payers, using separate, heterogeneous computersystems, distinct from the computer system handling the receipt andtransmission of communication messages. Recipients can includephysicians and those who work with them. (These roles are solelyillustrative, however, and are not limiting.)

As represented in block 305, in an embodiment, a sender detects an alertcondition. For example, in the healthcare field, the alert condition caninclude, but is not limited to, actions resulting in laboratory testresult information, critical test result information, test orderinformation, billing support information, and any other information thesender wishes to communicate to a recipient, including chat or customersupport information.

In block 310, according to an embodiment, the sender transmits theinformation representing the alert condition to one or more computersystems.

In block 315, after receiving the communication messages, the receivingand transmitting system reviews the content of the communicationmessages. In response, the receiving and transmitting system identifiesthe intended recipient and the intended recipient's devices using theinformation in the message from the sender. This identification may inan embodiment of the invention rely on information provided by both thesender and the recipient during their respective provisioning processes,described further below. Also as discussed below, this identificationmay depend on one or more rules and/or conditions specified, e.g., bythe recipient.

According to an embodiment, in block 320, the system transmits the alertmessages to the selected recipient's devices. As discussed below, thealert message may be received by a client application operating on thedevice, and this client may be either a general-purpose messagingapplication or a special-purpose application.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary diagram of a data structure 400 representinga message according to an embodiment. The messages that display on therecipient's device may include a body field 405 and a link field 405 tostore the information from a sender. In an embodiment, the body of themessage sent from the system does not contain any sensitive data, suchas personal health information. For example, the body of a message froma laboratory intended to be transmitted through the system to aphysician can solely read, “Critical Result Available.” This ensuresthat sensitive personal health information will not be interceptedduring the transmission of the message or by unauthorized access bysomeone other than the recipient. The term “personal health information”includes, but is not limited to, information such as demographicinformation, medical history, test and laboratory results, insuranceinformation, and other data that is collected by healthcareprofessionals to identify individuals. The link can be, for example, aURL that directs the recipient to a display of the relevant personalhealth information relating to the message. The relevant personal healthinformation can be displayed, for example, on a Web page that requiressecure login access by authorized users in order to view the personalhealth information of a patient.

The message configuration allows messages 400 to be sent over insecurechannels without risking the disclosure of sensitive information.Because no personal health information is transmitted in the body field405 of a message, the interception of the message during thetransmission of a message 400 over a network from the receiving andtransmitting system to a recipient's device or devices poses little riskof unauthorized users gaining access to the secure information. Asdiscussed below, the link field 405 of the message can direct the userto an appropriate, secure avenue for the receipt of the personal healthinformation and sensitive data.

In an embodiment, authorized recipients are designated in the message400 by the sender. When a sender is registered to use the receiving andtransmitting system and is granted the ability to communicate torecipients using the system, the sender need not provide any otherdetails about the recipient; specifically, the sender need not includeany addressing information. For example, in the healthcare setting, thesender uses its own physician identification, account, or customernumber to designate the intended recipient. The receiving andtransmitting system identifies the recipient and recipient devices usingthe system's own processes, which may include internal mapping tables.

According to an embodiment, and referenced in FIG. 4, the messages canalso include other fields 405 available for senders to use to increasethe amount of information sent to recipients. In an embodiment, amessage category field 405 is required to identify the category that themessage belongs to. Examples of message categories include, but are notlimited to, critical laboratory test results, non-critical laboratorytest results, marketing messages, and system information. Messages 400may also include priority fields 405 for senders to customize thepriority level of a message. For example, a health insurance company mayopt to give a message a priority level of 1 if the message refers to anaccount that is 90 days past due, but give a message a priority level of3 if the message refers to an account that is only 30 days past due. Inan embodiment, messages may contain an expiration date field. Anexpiration date field allows a sender to set an expiration date for themessage. These fields 405 can be used, for example, to set a deadlinefor an action requested by the sender in the message. In an embodiment,expired messages will not be transmitted by the system to the designatedrecipient.

Referring back to FIG. 3, in block 320, after the receiving andtransmitting system processes the information in the message, includingthe recipient identification, the system matches the recipientidentification used by the sender with the corresponding recipientidentification in the system's internal mapping table. The system thentransmits the message to the designated recipient over a network.

In block 325, the recipient's device displays the message to therecipient. In an embodiment, the device may be configured to display themessage according to the instructions of the recipient. The recipientdetails these instructions using a customizable user interface, which isdescribed in further detail below.

In an embodiment, as depicted in block 330, if the message that istransmitted from the receiving and transmitting system to the recipientdevice includes a link field and the link field is populated with anactive link, the recipient can select the link. As depicted in block335, in an embodiment, the recipient's device is configured to open anetwork browser window according to the link contained in the message.This allows the recipient to access information that is not included inthe insecure fields of the message. In an embodiment, the link maydirect a recipient to the sender's own secure server to view thesensitive data.

In block 340, the sender's server ensures that only an authorizedrecipient views the sensitive data referenced in the link by determiningif the recipient is currently logged in to the sender's server withvalid credentials. If the recipient is not logged in, as block 345represents, the sender's server prompts the recipient to enter validcredentials, which the recipient can complete in block 350. In block355, once a recipient has either entered valid credentials or the senderserver detects that the recipient is already authorized to access thesender server, the sender server is configured to display the underlyingsensitive information, such as personal health information, to therecipient via the browser window.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary diagram of senders 500 and recipients 525 ina receiving and transmitting communication system. Senders 500 transmitinformation contained in messages 505 to the system 510 over a network515 to a recipient's computing devices that are registered with thesystem 510.

In an embodiment, for a recipient to register a computing device 525,the recipient must complete a provisioning process. The provisioningprocess is initiated by the recipient, and may in an embodiment of theinvention begin with installing a client application 520 on therecipient's computing device 525. The client application 520 may bestored, e.g., in the computing device's volatile and/or persistentmemory, and it may control the interactions between the receiving andtransmitting system 510 and the computing device 525.

During installation or during subsequent configuration, the clientapplication 520 may create a device ID unique to the recipient'scomputing device 525. This information may associate the installeddevice ID with the routes the recipient can receive notifications from.(A “route” for this purpose is a particular device associated with therecipient that has the client application 520 installed where thenotifications can be sent.) For its part, the receiving and transmittingsystem 510 may store the device ID and/or other information associatedwith the recipient, e.g., in one or more tables in one or moredatabases. This storing may in an embodiment of the invention includemarking the device ID as having been used, to prevent other clientapplications 520 from registering the same device ID.

According to an embodiment, the client application 520 on a recipient'scomputing device 525 can be configured to poll the receiving andtransmitting system 510 over a network 515 for any messages 505 for therecipient. The frequency of the polling may be client configurable toadjust the time between queries from the client application 520 to thereceiving and transmitting system 510. The receiving and transmittingsystem 510 may be configured to filter the messages 505 for therecipient that have expired (e.g., the time to complete the actionrequired in the message has expired) and the messages 505 that have notbeen delivered to the recipient.

To authenticate the transmitted messages 505 between the receiving andtransmitting system 510 and the client application 520, an embodiment ofthe invention allows for the creation of a unique hash to accompanyevery message 505 that travels to and from the system 510. This hash canbe created using MD5 or other algorithm and may include informationspecific to the message, a time and/or date related to the message,and/or information specific to the sender, recipient, and/or device.

In an embodiment, for a sender 500 to register with the system 510, itmust also go through a provisioning process. The sender's server 520will make a call to an application programming interface (“API”) toprovide information about the sender's system. This information caninclude, but is not limited to, contact information, such as the firstand last name, email address, or telephone number of the sendercontained in the system. Identification information specific to aprofessional's industry can be used, such as the National ProviderIdentifier (“NPI”) of a physician. In an embodiment, when directed foruse by healthcare professionals, it is important that the provisioningprocess capture information such as the different patient andadministrative data the sender has on potential recipients in their ownsystem so the receiving and transmitting system's processes can matchthe recipient's identification information to the sender's ownidentification information submitted in a message. Any other uniqueidentifier of potential recipients in the source system can also beprovided during the provisioning process. When present, the uniqueidentifier can be used to filter a specific recipient within anorganization to publish a notification to the specific recipient'sclient application.

In an embodiment, after a sender 500 has registered with the system 510,when a recipient installs the client application and registers thecomputing device's device ID, the receiving and transmitting system tiesthe sender system's information representing the recipient received viaprovisioning to the recipient's device ID. The process of tying thesender's own identification identifying a recipient and the recipient'sown identification information may be performed by at least one of theprocessors in the receiving and transmitting application via a mappingtable. This process also facilitates more efficient communicationbetween parties and provides advanced means to transmit messages torecipients that do not share common identifying information.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of process by which the receiving andtransmitting system 510 records acknowledgement messages. In block 605,the system 510 receives an acknowledgement message from a clientapplication 520 once the recipient acts upon a recipient message. Asrepresented in block 610, the system 510 transmits the acknowledgementmessage to the sender of the original message 505. The sender of theoriginal message 505 can then take the acknowledgement message andprocess it for its own records. An audit trail can be created from thesender's records to increase future efficiency and resolve any futureproblems arising from the laboratory test processing. In block 615, inan embodiment, the system 510 may record the audit trail itself. To doso, the system 510 determines the action the recipient took thattriggered the acknowledgement message. Recipient actions may include,but are not limited to, actions such as the recipient opening, deleting,or responding to a message 505. In block 620, the system 510 records theinformation contained in the acknowledgement message to create an audittrial. In an embodiment, the process depicted in FIG. 6 can be repeatedevery time the recipient and/or a device and/or client applicationassociated with the recipient performs an action affecting the message.Thus, according to an embodiment of the invention, an audit trail may becreated to track the receipt of the message, the display of the messageon a recipient's device, and any action the recipient performs oninformation including in the message, such as selecting a link displayedin the link field.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary user interface to allow a recipient tocustomize the transmission of messages to a client application 520. Inan embodiment, the receiving and transmitting system 510 can beconfigured to transmit through at least one of the interfacesinstructions that present a user interface on an electronic displaydevice. A recipient can use the user interface to configure the system510 to send messages to the recipient's devices 525 selected by the timeand type. For example, a physician may direct that alerts from aninsurance company about billing are to be sent only to the clientapplication 520 on an administrator's computer 525 and only duringbusiness hours, while a critical laboratory test result may be sent toclient applications 520 on all of the recipient's registered devices525, regardless of the time. In an embodiment, the recipient ispresented with a user interface on each client application 520 thatdisplays options to customize the receipt of messages 505. This allowsthe recipients to customize each individual computing device that isregistered with the receiving and transmitting system 510 through aclient application 520.

According to an embodiment, the recipient may select elements of theuser interface 705, such as a check box or tick box on a graphical userinterface, to select the type of message 505 the recipient wants tocustomize. According to the recipient's interaction with the element705, the user interface can display a separate user interface element710 for the recipient to select whether they want to customize the timeduring which messages 505 will be sent to the client application 520. Ifthe recipient interacts with element 710 to indicate that the recipientwould like to customize message receipt time, the user interface can beconfigured to display additional user interface elements 715 and 720.Element 715 allows a recipient to set the daily start time for theclient application 520 to receive messages 505, while element 720adjusts the daily end time that the client application 520 stopsreceiving messages 505.

In an embodiment, a recipient may further customize the transmissionsettings of messages to recipient devices by location data. The userinterface may display options that take advantage of a recipient'sdevices that can transmit location data to the receiving andtransmitting system. For example, a recipient can configure a clientapplication on a computing device capable of transmitting location datato accept alerts only when the recipient is within a certain distancefrom a designated location. Thus, a physician may configure the systemto send alert messages to the client device on his or her mobile devicewhen the device is more than 20 miles away from the physician's office.

According to an embodiment, a recipient may be able to customize thereceipt of messages based on other varying criteria, such as, but notlimited to, back-up or alternative devices. For example, a recipient maydesignate an alternative device for the receipt of critical alertmessages. Thus, if the receiving and transmitting system attempts tosend a message to a primary device but fails to receive anacknowledgement message confirming receipt of the message on therecipient's device, the system can be configured to send the message tothe alternative device to ensure that critical alerts are received bythe necessary parties.

As an example of the receiving and transmitting system used in thehealthcare field, FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of the process thereceiving and transmitting system 510 uses for test order messages. Thereceiving and transmitting system 510 first receives the order messagefrom a sender system 500 in block 805. In block 810, the receiving andtransmitting system 510 begins to process the message sent from thesender 500. In the course of processing the message, the system 510determines whether the order contains an error, as represented in block815. Using conventional methods, order processors at laboratories wouldhave to resolve errors through means such as telephone calls. In anembodiment of the invention, when an error is discovered during orderprocessing, in block 825, the system 510 transmits the message to therecipient for immediate action. Block 830 depicts the act of the clientapplication 520 sending an acknowledgement message back to the receivingand transmitting system 510. The acknowledgement message ensures thatthe original sender or system can log the receipt of the message anddetermine if the error is in the process of being resolved by therecipient.

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary flow diagram of the process the receivingand transmitting system uses for laboratory test result messages in thehealthcare context. In block 905, the system receives the laboratorytest result message from the sender. The message is processed, asdepicted in blocks 910 and 915, to determine if the laboratory testresult is a critical laboratory test result. If the message is acritical result, the message is transmitted to the designated recipient,in block 930, according to the recipient's critical result instructions,if the recipient has customized their settings with the receiving andtransmitting system with respect to critical result messages. If themessage is not a critical result, the message is transmitted to therecipient according to the recipient's normal test result instructions.In block 935, to record the recipient's actions, the system 510 receivesan acknowledgement message from the recipient's client application 520and transmits it to the original sender and/or records it for the audittrail.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary flow diagram of the process the receivingand transmitting system 510 uses for billing messages. As with othermessage types, and shown in block 1005, the system 510 receives billingmessages from senders outside of the system 510. The system 510 thenstarts to process the billing message in block 1010. In processing thebilling message, the system 510 first determines whether there is aninitial issue with the billing information including in the billingmessage, as shown in block 1015. If the system 510 determines that thereis an issue with the billing information, the system 510 can immediatelysend the recipient the message to fix the issue in block 1030. If thesystem 510 determines that the billing information contains no errorsand presents no issues, the system 510 then determines, in block 1020,whether the billing information contains a payment denial that cannot beresolved without the recipient's input. If the system 510 determinesthat the payment denial cannot be resolved without the recipient'sinput, then the system 510 moves to transmit the message to therecipient in block 1030 so that the recipient can handle the denial andprevent the payment from becoming bad debt. In block 1035, to record therecipient's actions, the system 510 receives an acknowledgement messagefrom the recipient's client application 520 and transmits it to theoriginal sender and/or records it for the audit trail.

It is noted in this disclosure, and particularly in the claims and/orparagraphs, that when an ordinal number (such as “first,” “second,”“third,” and so on) is used as an adjective before a term, that ordinalnumber is used (unless expressly or clearly specified otherwise) merelyto indicate a particular feature, such as to distinguish that particularfeature from another feature that is described by the same term or by asimilar term.

The present invention has been illustrated and described with respect tospecific embodiments thereof, which embodiments are merely illustrativeof the principles of the invention and are not intended to be exclusiveor otherwise limiting embodiments. Accordingly, although the abovedescription of illustrative embodiments of the present invention, aswell as various illustrative modifications and features thereof,provides many specificities, these enabling details should not beconstrued as limiting the scope of the invention, and it will be readilyunderstood by those persons skilled in the art that the presentinvention is susceptible to many modifications, adaptations, variations,omissions, additions, and equivalent implementations without departingfrom this scope and without diminishing its attendant advantages. Forinstance, except to the extent necessary or inherent in the processesthemselves, no particular order to steps or stages of methods orprocesses described in this disclosure, including the figures, isimplied. In many cases the order of process steps may be varied, andvarious illustrative steps may be combined, altered, or omitted, withoutchanging the purpose, effect or import of the methods described. It isfurther noted that the terms and expressions have been used as terms ofdescription and not terms of limitation. There is no intention to usethe terms or expressions to exclude any equivalents of features shownand described or portions thereof. Additionally, the present inventionmay be practiced without necessarily providing one or more of theadvantages described herein or otherwise understood in view of thedisclosure and/or that may be realized in some embodiments thereof. Itis therefore intended that the present invention is not limited to thedisclosed embodiments but should be defined in accordance with theclaims that follow.

We claim:
 1. A method of routing electronic messages in a data networkcomprising a plurality of sender computer systems and a plurality ofuser devices, the method being performed by a routing computer systemthat comprises a database and participates in the data network, themethod comprising: storing in the database (a) mapping data thatassociates each of a plurality of sender-user identifiers respectivelywith exactly one of a plurality of users and further associates each ofthe sender-user identifiers respectively with exactly one of a pluralityof senders, (b) device data that associates each of the user devicesrespectively with exactly one of the users, and (c) a plurality ofrouting criteria, each of the routing criteria being associatedrespectively in the database with exactly one of the users; receivingfrom one of the sender computer systems, via the data network, a messagefrom one of the senders to one of the users, the message comprisingtext, a reference to additional information, and one of the sender-useridentifiers, the one of the sender-user identifiers being associatedwith both the one of the senders and the one of the users, and the text,the reference, and the sender-user identifier each being distinct fromeach other; responsive to receipt of the message and based on the one ofthe sender-user identifiers, retrieving one or more of the routingcriteria associated with the one of the users and, applying one or moreof the retrieved routing criteria, identifying for receipt of themessage one or more of the user devices associated with the user; andtransmitting via the data network information to cause the identifiedone or more of the user devices to present information comprised by themessage.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitted informationcomprises the text and the reference, neither the text nor the referencecontaining the other in the transmission.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the reference is a hyperlink to information that is provided bythe sender separately from the message.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the target of the hyperlink is a Web page that includes patienthealth information.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the message issent at a time; and at least one of the applied routing criteria isbased on the time.
 6. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving fromthe first device geolocation data associated with a current physicallocation of the first device, wherein: the device registration datacomprises data that associates with the one of the users a first userdevice of the plurality of user devices and one or more additional userdevices of the plurality of user devices; the first user device is notone of the additional user devices; and the applied routing criteriacomprise one or more location criteria such that the routing computersystem transmits the transmitted information to the first user device ifthe geolocation data satisfies one or more of the location criteria, andotherwise transmits the transmitted information to one or more of theadditional user devices but not to the first user device.
 7. A routingcomputer system for routing electronic messages in a data network thatcomprises a plurality of sender computer systems and a plurality of userdevices, the routing computer system comprising a database, wherein: thedatabase comprises (a) mapping data that associates each of a pluralityof sender-user identifiers respectively with exactly one of a pluralityof users and further associates each of the sender-user identifiersrespectively with exactly one of a plurality of senders, (b) device datathat associates each of the user devices respectively with exactly oneof the users, and (c) a plurality of routing criteria, each of therouting criteria being associated respectively in the database withexactly one of the users; and the routing computer system is programmedto carry out a method comprising: receiving from one of the sendercomputer systems, via the data network, a message from one of thesenders to one of the users, the message comprising text, a reference toadditional information, and one of the sender-user identifiers, the oneof the sender-user identifiers being associated with both the one of thesenders and the one of the users, and the text, the reference, and thesender-user identifier each being distinct from each other; responsiveto receipt of the message and based on the one of the sender-useridentifiers, retrieving one or more of the routing criteria associatedwith the one of the users and, applying one or more of the retrievedrouting criteria, identifying for receipt of the message one or more ofthe user devices associated with the user; and transmitting via the datanetwork information to cause the identified one or more of the userdevices to present information comprised by the message.
 8. The routingcomputer system of claim 7, wherein the transmitted informationcomprises the text and the reference, neither the text nor the referencecontaining the other in the transmission.
 9. The routing computer systemof claim 8, wherein the reference is a hyperlink to information that isprovided by the sender separately from the message.
 10. The routingcomputer system of claim 9, wherein the target of the hyperlink is a Webpage that includes patient health information.
 11. The routing computersystem of claim 7, wherein: the message is sent at a time; and at leastone of the applied routing criteria is based on the time.
 12. Therouting computer system of claim 11, wherein: the message comprises typeinformation specifying a type for the message, the type informationbeing distinct from the text, the reference, and the one of thesender-user identifiers; and at least one of the applied routingcriteria is based on the type information.
 13. The routing computersystem of claim 7, wherein: the method comprises receiving from thefirst device geolocation data associated with a current physicallocation of the first device; the device registration data comprisesdata that associates with the one of the users a first user device ofthe plurality of user devices and one or more additional user devices ofthe plurality of user devices; the first user device is not one of theadditional user devices; and the applied routing criteria comprise oneor more location criteria such that the routing computer systemtransmits the transmitted information to the first user device if thegeolocation data satisfies one or more of the location criteria, andotherwise transmits the transmitted information to one or more of theadditional user devices but not to the first user device.